Word.ws English Dictionary

leatherman

leatherman noun: a member of a homosexual male subculture that grew out of male-only motorcycle clubs formed by homosexual veterans returning from World War II, stressing masculinity in contradiction to androgynous and effeminate gay stereotypes, characterized by a fetish for leather gear and clothing, a sense of hierarchy, and a fraternal, militaristic code of protocol and behavior, often involving BDSM practices.

leatherman: a member of a homosexual male subculture that grew out of male-only motorcycle clubs formed by...
Image: Franco Folini, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun (1)

leatherman (plural leathermen)

  1. A member of a homosexual male subculture that grew out of male-only motorcycle clubs formed by homosexual veterans returning from World War II, stressing masculinity in contradiction to androgynous and effeminate gay stereotypes, characterized by a fetish for leather gear and clothing, a sense of hierarchy, and a fraternal, militaristic code of protocol and behavior, often involving BDSM practices.
  2. (archaic) A male leather dealer, leatherworker, or tanner.

Noun (2)

leatherman (plural leathermen)

  1. A multitool, usually with a plier head as the central implement, that has an array of other implements such as knives, screwdrivers, can openers, files, saws, and so on.

Proper noun capitalized: Leatherman

Leatherman (plural Leathermans)

  1. A surname.

Forms of leatherman

Noun
pluralleathermen
Proper noun
pluralLeathermans

Origin of leatherman

From leather + man. In the gay subculture sense, since the mid-twentieth century. In the leather dealer sense, since centuries earlier; archaic today.

From the name of the manufacturer, Leatherman Tool Group, named after Timothy Leatherman.

Occupational surname from leatherman.

Questions about leatherman

What does leatherman mean?
Leatherman means a member of a homosexual male subculture that grew out of male-only motorcycle clubs formed by homosexual veterans returning from World War II, stressing masculinity in contradiction to androgynous and effeminate gay stereotypes, characterized by a fetish for leather gear and clothing, a sense of hierarchy, and a fraternal, militaristic code of protocol and behavior, often involving BDSM practices.
What part of speech is leatherman?
Leatherman can be a noun or a proper noun.
What is the plural of leatherman?
The plural of leatherman is leathermen.

Words near leatherman in the dictionary

  1. leatherless
  2. leatherlike
  3. leathermaker
  4. leathermakers
  5. leathermaking
  6. leatherman
  7. Leathermans
  8. leathermen
  9. leathern
  10. leathern conveniencies
  11. leathern conveniency

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: leatherman (page history and authors); Leatherman (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-leatherman.wav.

Cite this entry: “leatherman.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/leatherman. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.